NCAA Tournament: What the national pundits are saying about the Huskies

Read enough conjecture about a particular team in the NCAA Tournament, and eventually, the various viewpoints will contradict each other in just about every way possible.

Washington is going to lose to Georgia. Or the Huskies will beat Georgia, then lose to North Carolina. Or North Carolina will overlook them and Washington will pull off the upset.

Ah, the month of March, when everybody’s right until they’re wrong. Let’s get to the links.

— Here’s a good breakdown of the East Region by ESPN’s Dana O’Neil. She identifies Isaiah Thomas as one of the players to watch, and also tabs the UW-Georgia matchup as one of three second-round (first round, really) games to watch. O’Neil also says Washington “has the sort of athleticism to be dangerous.”

— Eric Angevine at CBSSports.com won’t be a popular guy in Seattle this week. He thinks Georgia over Washington is the most likely upset in the region, because the Bulldogs have playmakers like Trey Thompkins and Travis Leslie who are capable of imposing their will.

Though this line is a little curious: “The biggest (well, smallest) thing standing in the way of that possibility is 5-foot-9 Huskies point guard Isaiah Thomas, who may strip the ball from Gerald Robinson often enough that neither of the Bulldogs’ stars ever gets it.”

Thomas has become a very solid defender, to be sure. And if he’s able to harass Robinson, then, hey, all the better for UW. But his value obviously lies elsewhere. I’m guessing there are a few things higher on the Huskies’ list of priorities than whether or not Thomas racks up a bunch of steals.

Angevine does think Thomas is the best point guard in the region, and also lists him among five “stars on display.”

And while Angevine doesn’t appear to think much of UW’s chances, he did bring up the (extremely) unlikely scenario of the Huskies meeting Terrence Jones and the Kentucky Wildcats in the regional final, setting up another matchup between Jones and high school buddy Terrence Ross.

Angevine: “They are, in a way, the poster children for the growing Washington/Kentucky recruiting rivalry, which has seen several players jump ship from the Huskies to the Wildcats. Jones threw gasoline on the fire by committing to UW to play with his friend and then publicly changing his mind. The two programs could only meet in the regional final the way the brackets are laid out, and what a game that will be if it comes to pass.”

— Stewart Mandel is considerably higher on Washington. The Sports Illustrated columnist picked the Huskies as a potential bracket buster out of the East Region, calling them “dangerous” and writing: “When the Huskies get their transition offense going, they’re tough to stop.”

He must know what he’s talking about, because he also picked Kentucky to win the region. So did I.

— You can check out the predicted brackets of each of CBSSports.com’s experts here. Six of them like Ohio State to win it all, two took Duke, and two picked Kansas. Seven of the 10 picked Washington to beat Georgia, but none of them had the Huskies advancing past North Carolina.